Welcome to the first Elections Daily news roundup! We’ll have regular updates on political news across the United States – and beyond – with a diverse group of writers and contributors.
Morning Headlines
North Carolina
North Carolina’s Green Party has been disqualified from the ballot for the 2022 elections. The State Board of Elections, which has a 3-2 Democratic majority, voted along party lines to revoke their ballot access due to alleged irregularities in their ballot petitions. 2,000 signatures have been called into question by the SBE, who claimed examples of “identical handwriting, incomplete personal information, duplicate names and deceased signatories.” The Green Party and the two Republican members of the SBE alleged that Democrats are unfairly working to restrict ballot access in order to benefit Democrats, and the Green Party has sued the SBE over their removal. Elections Daily currently rates the Senate race in the state as Likely Republican, and Republicans have a strong chance to claim supermajorities in one or both legislative chambers in November.
Florida
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faces increasing coverage as a potential presidential candidate following a New York Times/Siena College poll showing him down 49-25 to former President Trump in a potential 2024 primary. DeSantis is highly favored to win re-election – Elections Daily has the race rated as Likely Republican – allowing him to spend more time carving out a viable national profile.
Georgia
Although polls continue to show incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp well ahead of Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in Georgia, the Senate race has been consistently polling as a far closer affair. Most recent polls show a tied race or a slight lead for incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock; while Kemp leads the 538 polling average by 6.1%, Warnock leads Republican Herschel Walker on average by 1.3%. Some Republicans have expressed anxiety over Walker’s performance so far, but others are confident he will win in November due to an increasingly grim national climate for President Biden. Elections Daily currently rates the gubernatorial race as Leans Republican and the Senate race as a Tossup.
Tennessee
Tennessee will see its first partisan school board primaries on August 4th. A law passed last year allows local parties to nominate candidates in previously nonpartisan school board elections. While not all counties will have partisan races, as county parties can opt not to nominate candidates, major counties like Davidson and Williamson might see a shakeup on their school boards under the new law. Roughly 3/5s of Tennessee counties will have partisan races, with the notable exception of Shelby County, home to Memphis, the second-largest city in the state.